Mint rice recipe or pudina rice – this pulao recipe is very flavorful, refreshing and fragrant dish of course because of mint leaves.
This pudina pulao is very easy to make. I have pre-cooked plain rice. Cooked onion and mint puree with some whole spices and mixed it with cooked rice. If you have cooked rice ready then mint pulao can be ready in only 15 minutes.
This recipe is my mom’s recipe. Mint (aka Pudina in Hindi) is very cooling and refreshing. In this summer season I have lots of mint growing up in our front garden. And suddenly it reminds me mom’s Pudina rice recipe and immediately made it. First time I made it 2 weeks ago and dear husband just loved it. So I made it again last weekend and that time I got chance to take some pics.
With the remaining mint from garden, I have made mint juice recipe. Perfect for hot summer days.
I have added onion, mint and few whole spices to make this rice; no spice powder is used. So it has good flavor of mint. I have added only 2 small green chilies, so it has mild spicy taste. Adjust it as per your taste.
I have added some cashews nuts to give some crunch and texture to it. I have also fried some onions in the beginning and lastly garnished with it. because I just wanted to give a touch of biryani taste. Mom does not use nuts or fried onions; she usually makes simple mint rice. You can do her way as well. It will still taste good.
Check out other rice recipes
Spinach rice // Coriander rice // Corn rice // Capsicum rice // Beetroot rice
How to make pudina rice recipe (Step by Step Photos):
PREP: First cook the rice. Here is the recipe on how to cook basmati rice. To get 3 cups of cooked rice you will need 1 cup of raw rice. If you have leftover rice, you can use that as well.
1) Wash mint leaves very well.
2) Take mint leaves, green chilies, ginger and garlic to the blender. And grind it into a smooth paste adding very little water.
3) Heat the oil in pan on medium heat. Once hot add cashews and fry it till it gets golden brown. Drain and remove it to a plate.
4) Now add handful of sliced onions in the same oil and fry it till it get golden brown and crispy. This step is purely optional. I wanted to make it like biryani style so I have fried some. You can totally skip this.
5) Once browned remove it to the plate and keep it aside.
6) Now in the same oil, add bay leaf and cinnamon stick. Let it cook for few seconds, you will get nice aroma.
7) Then add cumin seeds, let them sizzle.
8) Then add remaining sliced onion. Sprinkle salt and mix it. If your cooked rice has salt in it then be careful while adding salt here.
9) Let it cook till it gets translucent or pink.
10) Then add mint paste.
11) Let it cook for 1-2 minutes and all the moisture will evaporates.
12) Add cooked rice.
13) Mix it very gently so rice grains do not break.
14) Garnish with cashews and fried onions and serve.
Serving suggestion: Serve this mint rice with plain yogurt or raita like onion raita, onion-tomato raita, boondi raita. You can pack this in kid’s or adults lunchbox with raita in separate container.
Mint rice recipe (Pudina rice recipe) mint or pudina pulao
Ingredients
Making paste:
- ½ cup Mint leaves
- 2 Green chilies
- ¼ inch Ginger
- 2 cloves Garlic
Making pudina rice recipe:
- 3 cups Cooked rice
- 1 ½ tablespoons Oil
- 1 tablespoon Cashew nuts broken
- ½ cup Onion sliced + handful sliced onions for frying
- 1 Bay leaf
- ½ inch Cinnamon stick
- ½ teaspoon Cumin seeds
- Salt to taste
Instructions
Preparation and making paste
- First cook the rice. To get 3 cups of cooked rice you will need 1 cup of raw rice. If you have leftover rice, you can use that as well.
- Wash mint leaves very well.
- Take mint leaves, green chilies, ginger and garlic to the blender. And grind it into a smooth paste adding very little water.
Making mint rice recipe:
- Heat the oil in pan on medium heat.
- Once hot add cashews and fry it till it gets golden brown. Drain and remove it to a plate.
- Now add handful of sliced onions in the same oil and fry it till it get golden brown and crispy. This step is purely optional. I wanted to make it like biryani style so I have fried some. You can totally skip this.
- Once browned remove it to the plate and keep it aside.
- Now in the same oil, add bay leaf and cinnamon stick. Let it cook for few seconds.
- Then add cumin seeds, let them sizzle.
- Then add remaining sliced onion. Sprinkle salt and mix it. If your cooked rice has salt in it then be careful while adding salt here.
- Let it cook till it gets translucent or pink.
- Then add mint paste. Let it cook for 1-2 minutes and all the moisture will evaporates.
- Add cooked rice. Mix it very gently so rice grains do not break.
- Turn off the stove.
- Garnish with cashews and fried onions and serve.
Priyanka Sahni
Very Nice recipe. But one Question Can we eat this alone or we need some curry with it?
Kanan
as mentioned in the recipe, this can be eaten as such or served with yogurt or raita.
Trey
Excellent flavors, one of my favorite rice recipes. Iso glad I found abrecipe for this spicy mint paste.
Kanan
Happy to know that you liked this rice dish. Thank you for your review
Sindhu
Hello. I tried this recipe. Once it came out absolutely delicious. But the second time I made it I put salt along with the onions and only onions were too salty whereas rest of the rice was tasteless. I want to repeat this recipe but am afraid I’ll waste the rice. Can u please tell me what I’m doing wrong . Sorry if this is a funny question .
Kanan
This recipe calls for cooked rice. You can add salt while cooking the rice. So the rice won’t be tasteless.
and while cooking onions add less salt just enough for onions, since cooked rice has already salt in it.
Sujana
I made this tonight except I added the mint tadka to uncooked rice in the rice cooker – came out delicious!
Kanan
Glad to know that.
Thank you for the feedback
Ranjani
Hi Kanan, I followed your recipe and made pudina rice fo lunch today and it came out very well. thank you so much 🙂 the only problem which I faced was – when i drained the water after soaking basmati rice, many broke. I buy only packed basmati rice from supermarket. What should I do to keep the rice from breaking? Should I not soak it?
And I have a recipe request – Can you please add a recipe for Vegetarian Thai wok? I searched all over the internet but I couldn’t find one. Please let me know if you can post one 🙂
Kanan
you can soak for only five minutes and see. If it is still breaking you can skip the soaking step. every rice company have different type and quality. so it may happen sometime. Trial and error will solve the issue.
Or you may be using quick cooking rice. ???
I have never heard and made vegetarian thai wok, I will research on it